How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

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Moonstruck felt considerably better the next morning, although her wings still ached, and even the simplest spells caused pain to flare up behind her eyes. Her legs, at least, were back to a normal degree of soreness, which she attributed to running full tilt through a sea of gremlins for a mile. She hobbled down to a nearby creek to take a cold bath and refill her canteen, but paused on the way there, as the valley beyond their nook came into full view. It was a wide swath of prairie sweeping down from the steep mountains behind, lush with new grass and wildflowers. It was crescent shaped, as near as she could tell, with a river winding through it, and a tall plateau forming the northern border. A castle ruin stood atop a rocky island in an oxbow lake, and herds of elk or deer could be seen browsing though the new grass. It was a lovely sight.

She'd be here for a few days, at least. She was fairly certain she couldn't keep up a trot for long - if at all - and flying was absolutely out of the question at the moment. As she continued on to the spring, she mulled over why she was pressing onward. Roanamia could still be weeks away, she was in no condition to get there, and it was entirely possible she'd find herself in another situation like the one she'd just barely gambled her way out of. It wasn't like she particularly cared that much about the mission, did she?

She reached the creek and scowled down at the water, trying to remember why she'd agreed to do this. Moonstruck could remember the facts, that Roanamia had been lost to the world for over a thousand years; that it was ruled by a cruel, evil mare whom had turned it into a horrible dystopia; but why she personally had agreed to come was lost to her.

She grumbled to herself and stepped into the water, wincing as the cold hit her. She continued into the creek anyway, wading into a pool that came up to her withers. The cold, at least, numbed out her wings. She dipped under water for a few seconds, then popped up, shaking her mane out a little. If this were a hot spring she would soak for a while, but seeing as how it was snowmelt, she didn't dally in the creek. She climbed out after a minute or so and gingerly shook off. Normally she would cast a spell to dry herself, but decided it'd be best to keep magic use to a minimum for the next few days.

Joseph was back by the time she ambled into camp. "Well, nothing weird out in the valley. The hunting's good though. Really good. Lots of spring growth too. We'll eat pretty good, while you recover."

"Good." Moonstruck grunted, sitting down by the fire to start the long, slow drying process. "How far out from Roanamia are we?"

"About half way, although the next leg goes by quick." He hesitated. "You're continuing the mission even after...?"

She closed her eyes. "May as well."

"Okay..." Joseph said slowly. "Why?"

Of course he'd ask that. She opened her eyes, scowled into space, searched her mind for the best answer she could give, then turned to look at him.

"I'm stubborn."

He frowned, then turned away, shrugging. "Well, I guess there's no turning back at this point anyway. We should probably shift camp down to the castle. It's relatively stable, and safer than up here. There's a few large predators here, and gremlins will leave the caves at night on this side sometimes."

"Right." She nodded.

They broke camp and set off; Joseph promised to meet her at the castle later after he'd spent the day on the hunt. Moonstruck did not mind the solitude, she could only move at a steady walk, and she knew it would take her most of the day to get down to the castle which would likely drive the dragon up the wall.

There was no trail to speak of, just a long sweep of rocky grass and wildflowers. There was no need of a trail, when the going was this easy, Moonstruck knew. The warm sun felt good on her back and soothed her aching joints; as she walked her legs grew steadily stronger, and less stiff and sore. Her wings remained stubbornly achy, but she was able to ignore them, for the most part. She tried not to think much about what happened yesterday, nor why she was still doggedly pursuing the mission, for as she walked, the physical activity made her realize she was more mentally tired than anything. She'd certainly overexerted herself magically yesterday, perhaps it was better to just get to safety, and puzzle things out tomorrow.

"I'm not being lazy," she muttered to herself, smiling faintly. Even though she was, a little. She did still have to spend the day walking, though she suspected she'd be able to trot by the end of the day, provided the motion didn't jostle her wings too much. She let her gaze wander, taking in the landscape with the eye of a pony with a younger brother into botany, and a florist as a best friend; both of whom she tended to tune out whenever they rambled on about their plants. She somewhat regretted not listening more carefully. She recognized many of the plants, but the bulk of them were entirely new to her, and, she suspected, likely unique to this region. Possibly even to this river valley.

Around noon, she stopped to eat lunch, and took note that there were no foothills below the Broken Mountains on this side; the mountains jutted out of the ground without any build-up whatsoever, forming a near solid wall that stretched thousands of feet into the sky. She wondered how anypony could have passed through there on hoof, and if they had always been that way. As she let her gaze wander upwards, she noticed that there were two mountains with large, crescent shaped peaks. She suspected they would almost form a complete circle if viewed from the right angle. The more distant summit looked like it had had its top blown off, and the closer still had some rock near the top of the arch somehow. She knew less about rocks than she did plants, but even she knew that spit of stone should have crumbled eons ago.

The heights made her a bit dizzy, so she scooted around to inspect the opposite border of the valley; the plateau. From here it very much resembled a wall, but she recalled that from the other side of the valley, she could discern cracks and chasms, and crags zigzagging across the plateaus surface. Closer to the valley floor, it seemed much taller than it had before; possibly even impassable. It was to the north, which likely meant they'd have to traverse it somehow. She suspected they'd have to fly over it, there certainly didn't seem to be any good places to climb.

Shifting her gaze closer, she gave the castle an appraising look, noting that it had some pre-classical architecture going on, and was crumbling in a few places. It sat atop what she suspected was an old cinder cone, and was probably quite picturesque at sunup and sundown. She could see some evidence of an ancient road winding towards the castle, but she couldn't see any bridges to cross the river.

"Guess I'll figure that out when I get there," she murmured to herself.

Moonstruck finished up her lunch then set off again, wondering if this place was stuck in some sort of perpetual spring, or if she was now in an area in tune with the rest of the world. The river below was swollen with melted snow, the grass was almost knee deep, wildflowers were abundant, and many fawns scampered and played among the herds of elk and deer - all hallmarks of mid to late spring. She had lost track of time out here, but it didn't seem to matter. Life in the Broken Mountains marched at its own pace, and occasionally broke out into the robot, making it difficult to tell how long it had been outside in more predictable, and better regulated regions. For all she knew, barely three days had passed in Trot since she'd first set hoof on that misty trail outside Stirrup Springs.

She reached the river as the sun dipped low on the horizon. She feared having to swim in the dark in the cold, fast, deep water, but thankfully it was mostly marsh right up to the remains of a stone road that wound its way up to the castle. She got to wade through cold, belly deep water instead. At least it was clean water with willow trees growing here and there. She wasted no time in refilling her canteen, and collecting some willow bark to brew a painkilling tea for her wings. She even chanced a little magic to collect what she needed. Casting the simple levitation spell still caused her pain, but it was tolerable in short bursts.

"Oh, there you are. Was expecting you sooner." Joseph said as she sloshed towards dry land. The dragon landed in a tree, looking like some sort of a long tailed, oversized crow as he was silhouetted against the setting sun.

"Yeah, was taking it easy."

"Have a nice walk?"

"I did." Moonstruck smiled and glanced up at him. It had been nice. It was a splendid day for a walk, even if she was still sore, and her wings continued to throb. "Find any poor animals to eat?"

"Plenty." Joseph chortled. "I also scouted around the castle. There's a room with a fireplace that's serviceable. I already snagged some firewood."

"Oh good." Moonstruck sighed. She could go for a four star hotel and a massage at the moment, but a roof and a crackling fire would do. Especially if she could find a cast iron kettle or something. Cast iron would survive this long if properly stored, right?

"I don't suppose you you've found any cookware or anything?"

"Uh..."

"Like, a cast iron tea kettle?"

"I didn't really look."

"Hmm. Guess we can go exploring a bit."

"Yeah, there's some neat stuff in there anyway. There's no telling what you might find."

She reached the edge of the road and pulled herself on shore, wincing as she did so. The cold had soothed a few remaining knots in her muscles, but it had also played havoc with her joints. She shook off, wincing at the pain, then hobbled onto the ancient cobblestones. They meandered up to the castle, taking in the view as they went. The sunset was spectacular this evening, made all the better by the river, which reflected the red sky, and scattered clouds. Joseph led her to the room in question, which was within the walls of the castle and quite sheltered. It was actually in better shape than the house they'd camped in back in the city by the river on the other side of the mountains. She set up her stuff, then wandered off to see if she could find the kitchens, which seemed like the best place to find a cast iron pot. She could just chew on the willow bark, but she'd rather brew a tea - it was less harsh on her stomach in tea form.

The sun was down by that point, so she reluctantly cast a light spell, which caused a headache to rise up somewhere behind her eyes. Thankfully it was dull, and relatively easy to ignore, for the most part, however it was concerning. Was this going to happen every time she cast a spell? She hoped it was temporary, that after a few more days she could cast spells without any lingering pain.

As they passed a hallway that led outside, a tall, silver and gold alicorn materialized and strode gracefully past them.

"Hey, Mom." Moonstruck grunted automatically, as she often did when lost in thought while passing her mother in hallways.

"Um..." Joseph grunted.

Moonstruck caught up to the situation a moment later, snapped her head up and whipped around to stare down the hallway. Sure enough, her mother was still making her way down the corridor looking rather distracted herself.

"Mom!?" Moonstruck gasped.

"Mom?" Joseph echoed, confused.

She scrambled down the hall after the elder alicorn, dragon in tow. Astromida did not respond to her presence at all, in fact, she didn't seem to be aware that she was not alone in the corridor.

"It's a ghost?" Joseph said.

"Not a ghost, an echo. Like the village where the mountains broke." Moonstruck murmured, slowing to trail after her mother. They emerged onto a terrace that was bathed in moonlight, which allowed Moonstruck to cancel her spell for the time being, although the pain still lingered. Outside, it was easier to see that Astromida was much, much younger than Moonstruck remembered - perhaps not much older than Starshine's current age. She walked across the terrace and onto empty air, where part of the structure had fallen off at some point in the past. A grizzled old griffon stood off to the side. He turned to regard the alicorn, then dipped his beak respectively.

"Princess Astromida."

"General Lionheart." Astromida dipped her head gracefully.

"Are you sure they will come tonight?" The griffon asked.

"Quite. Any time, I would presume." She swept her gaze across the horizon, her mane blowing in some supernatural breeze that didn't seem to effect the griffon at all.

"Well, you generally presume correctly." He chuckled.

Moonstruck walked as far out onto the broken terrace as she dared, moving silently even though she knew the others couldn't hear her.

"What's going on?" Joseph whispered.

"This is... well it's basically a recording. This happened a long time ago, but it's still playing out here, for some reason." Moonstruck muttered. "Haven't you been to that one village?"

"Yeah, but I've never seen anything like this." He shook his head.

Moonstruck stared at him for a moment. "You didn't see the three fillies there?"

"What fillies?"

She quickly related what had happened back at the village she had encountered weeks earlier. Joseph scratched the back of his head and stared at the pony and griffon standing placidly on empty air.

"I've been here before, but I've never seen this. Though I don't remember if I ever came out here at night."

"Maybe it only works for ponies?" Moonstruck shrugged. "And you're only seeing it now 'cause I'm here."

He shrugged as well. "How long ago do you think this is?"

"Over a thousand years, at least."

Joseph whistled quietly.

"Ah, there they are. As you predicted." The general smiled, gaping his beak open slightly.

Astromida squinted into the distance. "General, I may be able to see the future, but your eyesight is far better than mine," she laughed softly.

"It's a griffon thing." He winked.

Moonstruck reared up onto her hind legs to take a look, as Joseph stretched up tall.

"Oh yeah, looks like a couple of pegasus. Maybe alicorns." The dragon confirmed.

Moonstruck ran down the list of alicorns she knew to be active around this time as they waited for them to get close enough for the ponies to see, but dropped it as she realized there was really only one pair that got involved in things in this time period. A few minutes later, Princesses Celestia and Luna landed on the now non-existent end of the terrace.

"Welcome back!" General Lionheart greeted cheerily.

"Well met, cousins." Astromida nodded politely.

"Hello - Luna, you can't keep this up! You just ended up making Lucena - " Celestia argued.

"We are not gods!" Luna snapped.

"But raising the moon in daylight and causing an eclipse just to prove a point certainly makes us look that way!" Celestia growled.

"Ah, that's what that was..." Lionheart muttered.

"I had to! Lucena had everypony doubting that we have any control over celestial bodies!" Luna stamped a hoof. "And she'd convinced them I was barely more powerful than an average unicorn!"

"So!?"

"You've seen the power struggles between alicorns! The only reason we're allowed to rule is because we're the most powerful! If they start doubting us, everything we fought for might be lost to a stupid civil war!"

"It will not be lost!" Celestia said firmly. "We were chosen by our peers to hunt down the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord - which we did. It was agreed upon by all alicorns that it was still our birthright to rule over Equestria, and that we would assume all responsibility for raising and lowering the sun and moon until such time that unicorns recovered from the distortion of Discords magic. There is no reason for the other families to make a power grab - they have nothing to gain!"

"Then explain Lucena! Why are we even here having diplomatic talks with her if she isn't pushing for more influence? Explain to me why she's amassing an army! Explain to me why she has her citizens convinced all alicorns are gods, but she's the god among gods!" Luna snarled. "Explain to me why the rest of House Rosegard doesn't reign her in, or why House Grayfeather is supporting her!"

"I don't know." Celestia sighed.

"Of course not! You were too busy playing around with the Roanamian nobles all day, while I was up all night gathering information!" Luna spat.

"Luna! You know that diplomatic relations -"

"Are horse apples! You only ever saw what Lucena wanted you to see! Roanamia at night is a very different country! A frightening one, wrought with nightmares even I cannot soothe! But you wouldn't know that because you only ever run in the light of your own sun!" She snorted, stamped a hoof, lashed her tail, then folded her wings and stormed away; past Moonstruck and Joseph and into the castle.

Celestia let out a long sigh and lowered her head as an awkward silence settled over the terrace.

"Astromida, I know you do not like to divulge specifics but... will Luna be alright? I am afraid... I am afraid that Lucena got to her somehow."

"The path ahead is dark for her, no matter which way she turns." Astromida murmured, staring after Luna. "But there is hope."

Celestia nodded. "Thank you, that means a lot."

"So... how is it in there?" General Lionheart asked hesitantly. "I still can't figure out why you left your oracle here. Seems like she'd be of most use at your side."

"Bad. Lucena has... she has divided the three tribes of ponies into different sections of the city, and she seems to be neglecting the pegasus ponies to a great extent. Most of the tours I was taken on were of unicorn neighborhoods, but we would pass near enough to other sections of the city to see that life was very different for pegasus and earth ponies." Celestia paused to scowl darkly. "She is insisting that the segregation is voluntary, but I very much doubt that. Beyond that I have not personally witnessed much – a fair bit of corruption, yes, but nothing on the scale that Luna has discovered."

"What has Luna seen?" Lionheart leaned forward curiously.

"A vast army hidden in the oldest parts of the city; acolytes of a strange cult that seem to worship a great dragon, and see Lucena as an avatar of this dragon. And suffering. So much suffering." Celestia shook her head sadly. "I doubt my sister is lying, but I saw none of this for myself. But I was also not in a position to slip away to do some digging."

"And that's why you needed your Oracle! Surely Astromida can confirm all of this!" Lionheart insisted.

"I can, and I do not need to be present to do so." Astromida blinked her large, luminous blue eyes. "What Princess Luna witnessed is quite real, I am afraid."

"And don't call me Shirley." Moonstruck added under her breath. If this had been Astromida in the flesh, she would have whipped around to give her daughter a sharp look, but seeing as how it was merely a memory, she didn't react.

"It is much better that she does not know that house Sol-Chronos has gotten involved. Chronos is always neutral when it comes to alicorn affairs, so Princess Astromidas willingness to aid us could be seen as an act of war. The last thing we need now is war." Celestia frowned.

Astromida nodded. "I would not be involved if there was not a slim chance that Roanamia can be saved." She scowled, then cast a glance to the side, stared directly at Moonstruck for a few unsettling moments. It sent a chill running down her spine.

"Can she see us?" Joseph breathed. Moonstruck couldn't form an answer.

"It is... it is a dim hope. Distant and faint." Astromida said, frowning slightly, then turning back to the others. "But I fear if things continue on as they have been, it may be all we have."

Celestia nodded, closed her eyes for a few seconds, then lifted her head. "It has been a long flight, I should sleep."

"Yes, yes, of course. Good night, Princess." General Lionheart said, bowing his head respectfully.

Celestia walked wearily past them as the echo began to fade, and the players disappeared into the cool night air.

"She knew." Moonstruck said, sitting down. "That sonnova biscuit-eater KNEW!"

"Pardon?" Joseph asked.

Moonstruck got up again and cast her light spell as she stormed back into the castle, ignoring the pain that oozed between her ears. "All of these years of letting me struggle, and she knew! She knew! Aaargh!"

"Wait... so your Mom was an oracle, and... she saw us just now didn't she?"

"Is. Is an oracle. She's still alive. Just... retired, or something. No one's seen her in months – unless she came back while I've been away." Moonstruck growled. "And yes, she probably did see us back then. Which means she knew I'd freaking take this mission! She knew I'd somehow end up here, of all places!"

"I'm confused."

Moonstruck stopped, which caused Joseph to bump into her. "Basically, the future isn't some solid, easily predictable thing. It's constantly in motion, constantly changing. Mom is one of the most powerful oracles of all time because she can see all the parts. Every possibility is spread out before her eyes. But, even knowing all that, she can't say with any certainty what will happen, because time – life - is absurdly complex."

She started off again, tail twitching in irritation. "I mean, even if you focus on a single day in a single ponies life there's an infinite number of possibilities. She could wake up late, she could wake up early. If she wakes up late she will miss the bus and have to run to work. If she's not on her usual bus, she might avoid being in an accident. Or maybe because she had to run to work, she'll miss out on donuts, or she'll be hit by a carriage, or maybe she's just plain old late and nothing in particular happens. Any one of those variables can effect the outcome of the day, and sometimes the variables are super tiny, and super mundane. Like, maybe she wakes up early, and eats a bigger breakfast than normal, and it gives her indigestion, so she ends up not going into work at all. You follow?"

"Er... yeah. I think so. It's like ripples in a pond, right?"

"Yes! And to complicate matters further, every move you make also effects the movement of those around you. No one exists in a vacuum, we're all connected through our shared existence."

"Okay..."

"Basically it means that predicting the future is actually nearly impossible, but Mom can do it. And that's because she can see EVERYTHING, not just snippets like most other oracles. So when she uses her ability, she can also sort out all of the stuff that is least likely to happen, and follow different routes through to the end so that she can make an educated guess where things are headed. But it all hinges on choices. Everyone's choices." Moonstruck shook her head. She really needed to find that kettle. The kitchens had to be around here somewhere.

"So does it really mean anything that she saw us just now? Or, back then?" Joseph furrowed his brow and scratched the back of his head.

"Yes and no." Moonstruck waved a hoof flippantly. "Some stuff is just destined to happen er, more like, basically everything just lines up for it to happen, Mom used to call them temporal bottlenecks, where all paths lead to one event, then branch out again from there. It's possible that we're in a temporal bottleneck, and it's possible that this is just one path."

"Huh. Guess that isn't very helpful, is it?"

"Not without Mom around to tell us which one." Moonstruck rolled her eyes. "Which is why she left, I bet. Things were going to happen that needed to happen, and she couldn't stomach hanging around to watch things go down."

"So, you're leaning towards bottleneck?"

"Yep. Mom never liked to get directly involved in anyponies lives. She didn't do any specific fortunetelling, and she only interfered when she knew that her involvement meant many lives would be saved." Moonstruck sighed. "And she deliberately tried to block out anything to do with her own family. She's an oracle, but she's not some detached omnipresent being - she still has emotions."

"Sooooooooooo... maybe she didn't know?" Joseph asked hesitantly as they turned down a decidedly less ornate corridor, which likely led to the working parts of the castle.

"She knew. She may have seen us well before we were born, but she had to recognize that the mysterious pony she'd seen at the meeting was her daughter, once I was born." Moonstruck shook her head. "This is probably the kitchen."

They poked their heads into the room in question, and Moonstruck reluctantly sent her spark of light up to hover high in the center of the room. The pain increased in proportion, making her seriously consider just going to bed, and hoping her tired muscles would work themselves out while she slept. It was the kitchen, however, and all of the cupboards were tightly shut, which was promising.

"That must've torn her up inside." Joseph noted.

"Probably. I dunno if she actually decided to look into my future though. Probably not. She probably tried to let things progress without any interference." Moonstruck sighed. "I'll take this half of the room."

Joseph grunted and ambled over to his side of the room.

"Which would be fine, except she... well she always had a sort of hooves off approach with me. She pushed me to be my best, but would never offer any guidance. But I'm probably the only one she accidentally caught a glimpse of in the time stream." She frowned, and used a hoof to pry open a cupboard. Empty.

Joseph didn't respond. For a few minutes, the only sound was the creaking of cabinet doors.

"Hey, didn't your Mom greet the other alicorns as 'cousin'?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We're like... sixth cousins or something. Most alicorns are related to some degree. Not so much us younger ones, since most of us are half, or less." Moonstruck shrugged, then winced as her wings added their own ache to her pain symphony.

"Celestia and Luna are the last heirs of House Sol. My family is House Sol-Chronos, which is the joining of a branch from the Sol family tree, and the Chronos family tree. My sister and I are the last alicorns in the line, unless one of us has alicorn foals." She popped a stubborn door nearly off its hinges and chortled. There was a kettle inside among other cast iron pots and pans. She carefully levitated it out, the strain of keeping two spells going at once nearly breaking her.

She set the kettle down and closed her eyes. "Ugh, I hope this wears off soon."

"You okay?" Joseph asked, padding over with the clicking of claw on stone.

"Yeah, it just hurts to cast spells. I should be alright in a few days." She shook her head, and called the spark of light back so that she could inspect the kettle. It was in amazingly good shape; had only a bit of rust on the outside. The inside was surprisingly clean.

She chanced using two spells again to levitate the kettle (which was too heavy to carry by mouth, and lacked any sort of wooden handle that would allow her to do so even if it wasn't), and steeled herself to get all the way down to the river and back.

"Get the fire going, I'll be back up in a few."

---

Moonstruck set the kettle down next to her, then sank down to the weathered cobblestones as she canceled her light spell. Cool darkness settled over her, the only sound her ragged breathing, and the gently flowing river. She rearranged her list of Stupid Things She Has Done, and placed bringing the kettle all the way down to the bottom of the hill to get a little bit of water at the very top of the list. Her head was killing her, and she still had to actually collect the water, and go back up to the castle.

"What am I doing?" She groaned, rolling on to her back to stare up at the stars shining brightly overhead. She grimaced as the weight on her wings sent pain that rivaled her headache exploding up and down her spine, and down to her chest. She rolled back on to her stomach and let out a pained sob, hot tears streaming down her face. It wasn't the physical pain that caused the tears – physical pain she could deal with; it was everything else on top of the physical pain. The mission; her mothers apparent knowledge that she would take the mission; the fact that she was nearly crippled in the flight and magic departments for the time being; the part where she was weeks away from home in an abandoned castle where a small chunk of history was playing out over and over again; and that she was more angry with her mother than over the greater problem of whatever the heck it was Lucena had done. She was also a bit irritated and confused by Celestias' decision to leave much of this information out of her initial briefing. Really, all of this would have been very useful information – especially the part where her mother had been involved.

Moonstruck was not certain of how much time she spent crying on the cobblestones, but she knew it couldn't have been long. Joseph hadn't come looking for her, at least, and the moon hadn't moved much. She sniffled, wiped a little snot away from her nose with one hoof, then shakily lifted the kettle to dip it into the river. Once she had enough water for tonight's bowl of tea and some for breakfast, she turned around and started the slow climb to the castle. She didn't bother with a light spell, her eyes had adjusted well enough to the dark that moonlight was sufficient to navigate by.

Having only one spell going allowed her to make it back up to their room without putting herself into a coma, but by the time she staggered into the one lit chamber of the whole castle, she was about ready to collapse. She managed to place the kettle on the hook designed to hold it that was jutting out of the fireplace over the fire, then crumpled into a heap on the hearth.

"Er... you okay?" Joseph asked.

"Not really." She closed her eyes and tried to focus on simply breathing.

"Want me to make the tea?"

"That... that would be nice, thank you."